# Cordelia Parting from her Sisters

- By: Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821–1893)
- Date: 1854
- Medium: pen and oil on paper on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 30.5 x 36.8 x 3.5 cm (12 x 14 1/2 x 1 3/8 in.); Unframed: 19.5 x 26.5 cm (7 11/16 x 10 7/16 in.)
- Culture: England, 19th century
- Credit line: Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.261)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.261/2013.261_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Reimagining English history was one way that Victorian (1837–1901) artists rooted themselves during a period of tremendous social and political change and life-altering technological advances. Ford Madox Brown’s expressive and vividly colored sketch for an unrealized project takes a story from Britain’s most famous playwright, Shakespeare. The artist chooses the dramatic moment when King Lear’s daughter Cordelia parts ways with her sisters.